All things about the media, marketing, business, Japan and other musings by Mike in Tokyo Rogers.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

"Gin no Sara" - Super Popular Sushi Commercial in Japan

This internet commercial is a huge hit in Japan now. It's for a sushi delivery company and it talks about the secrets that go on behind the scene of commercial shoots.

Here's a quick translation that I've made for you:At 0:14 the director yells, "Cut! She is sweating!" Narrator (The guy with the mustache and glasses): "In the heat of summer we shoot winter scenes! When we shoot TV commercials there are so many scenes that we hide. 0:21 Narrator: "That extremely smart dog won't act unless we use bait to get him to do his part... When he gets tired, we have a bunch of replacements for him..."0:28 Narrator: "Shsssh! Our main actress is treated like God...." 0:30 (Guy has lines written on his shirt) Narrator: "...She doesn't need to remember her lines..."0:35 Narrator: "In the world of commercials, she has no wrinkles or lines... And we make her taller and skinnier..."0:40 (Cell rings on assistant's phone) Narrator: "There is nothing that interrupts her acting..."0:44 (Samurai attacks narrator) Narrator: "Of course, I'm not cut! But the sound was pretty good, eh?... It's this.... (Narrator looks to guy cutting cabbage).0:53 (People in suits sitting around monitor) Narrator (whispers): "Oh? The sponsors..."0:55 (Assistant pouring whiskey into coffee cups) Narrator: "We pour whiskey into the coffee of these people who are always complaining....That way they don't care about 'strange things' or mistakes."1:04 Narrator: "It's a secret but there are ghosts in the studio! One female ghost always tries to bother the female actresses because of rivalry.... There's also a ghost of a guy who wanted to become a director but failed... There's a samurai ghost too who is still trying to destroy his enemies!"1:11 (Fat guy at computer monitor) Narrator: "For those times we have a guy who is a professional at editing out ghosts!"1:17 (Narrator explodes) Narrator: "Commercial shoots are healthy and safe."1:20 Narrator: "It's the age of computer graphics so nothing is impossible!"1:23 (Dummy explodes in parking lot) Narrator: "If we didn't have computer graphics, this is what would happen..."1:26 Narrator: "When you are talking about commercials, you are talking about the scenes with people smiling."1:28 (Bored and sleepy kids) Narrator: "But it is here that the biggest secret is kept. This subject is a taboo amongst TV commercial staff."1:31 Director: "Yoshida!... Bring that!"1:33 (Yoshida (guy in red) runs onto the shoot with sushi) Yoshida: "Everyone! Here you go!"1:38 (Kids start jumping up and down) Kids: "Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!"1:45 (Director yells 'Action!') 1:46 Narrator: "The perfect smile is 'Gin no Sara.' It is the hard and fast rule of this business! 1:50 (Main actress crashes through wall) Narrator: "When the pissed off main actress won't come out of her dressing room! She'll come out with a great smile here!"1:54 (Hollywood Actor retuning on Helicopter) Narrator: "When the Hollywood actor says he's going back to Hollywood and not coming back, he returns immediately with a big smile!"1:59 Narrator: "Gin no Sara" (Gin no Sara is, of course, the name of the sushi delivery company that made this commercial).

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Great commercial and funny! But who will wait for 2 minutes of an introduction before finding what this commercial is about? And once you see it, you will never want to see it again. I think this should be shortened to less than 30 seconds. Maybe break this into 4 or 5 different commercials instead of one.

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About Me

Professional music/TV/radio/anime-related program producer. In the music business since 1977 as lead vocalist with legendary Los Angeles Punk Band, "The Rotters" (Sit on My Face Stevie Nix.). Former assistant to the legendary Rodney Bingenheimer (Rodney on the ROQ - KROQ Los Angeles from 1980 ~ 1981.) First and only foreigner in Japanese history to become the General Manager of a major Japanese broadcasting station (TV Tokyo owned InterFM). Has produced a few smash hit programs and several of Japan's highest rated and most famous radio programs - as well as his fair share of crap. Recent Smash Hits were "The TV Show" (Set Program with "Ninja Slayer") which, between April - Oct. 2015, garnered over 10 million viewers. Currently producing and hosting "WTF?" the smash hit Sunday live show on InterFM 89.7
Wrote and produced full-length motion picture "Ghostroads - A Japanese Rock and Roll Ghost Story" which will be released by a Japanese major motion picture company and in theaters all across Japan in Oct. 2017.